jwengAPWHP2 - Classical China

Classical China Terms

Shi Huangdi	Shi Huang di was a harsh Chinese ruler during the Qin Dynasty that believed that there should be a stable government with harsh laws to control the people of China. Ruled only for 35 years. Shi Huangdi was the ruler to pull China out of a warring-state era. Before the civilization was in a feudal system where the people of China was very separated. Instead he made the country more unified with stronger laws and better political system.
Qin	Dynasty from 221 to 207 B.C.E at begun at the end of Warring States. The dynasty only consisted of one ruler; Shi Huangdi.
Han	The third dynasty of China that rules from 207 BCE – 220 CE. It began with a great amount of power where the country was constantly expanding territory. The Han Dynasty was the time where people of China began trading with other civilizations like the Silk Road.
Zhou	Chinese Dynasty from 1122 to 256 B.C.E that overthrew the Shang dynasty. During the time, things were more focused on cultural unity but it caused way government ruling to drop. People would control different parts of China that made it difficult. At the time the Zhou Dynasty was a fuedal government but was the first to create the oral Mandarin language.
Great Wall	The Great Wall was created in the North to protect the people from outside invasions and protect expansionist drivers. The monument extends over 3000 miles. The project was built by forced labor of the peasants.
Daoism	Daoism is a Chinese philosophy on that harmony nature. It was first began with Laozi who believed in the way of nature and divine impulse. Daoism believed in harmony of nature; the idea ying and yang. Even though the three different philosophy encountered with problems, Daoism was able to be compatible with the kings with Confucianism.
Confucianism	Confucianism is the Chinese philosophy that was based on solid political life and personal virtue. It had a list of virtues that show the respect for people of different social class. King Wu Ti was a high support of Confucianism to support ethics behind jobs. Also the philosophy highly value the arts. It was a high spread philosophy that began in the upper class.
Legalism	Legalism is a Chinese philosophy that based the political system on harsh laws and a strong army. With that it would provide a proper state for the people. The philosophy believed that with strong rules people could live in fear and have a stable life. This is similar to Hammurabi Law with laws with harsh consequences.
Bureaucracy	Government in China, ruled by emperor and ministers of the states. The bureaucracy had high power of the state and where usually places in the highly class. Central government that branches off from a the top power to minsters, military leaders to govern different regions

Analysis Chart on Shi Huangdi

Leader Analysis Sheet

Name of Leader: Shi Huangdi
Lifespan: 259B.C.E – 210 B.C.E	Title: Emperor of China
Country/region: Kingdom of Qin	Years in Power :
Political, Social, & Economic Conditions Prior to Leaders Gaining Power China was Before ruling China, China was in a mess where there was limited ruling power China would have separate regions ruled by different people Outside civilizations would always be trying to take over land The dynasty before Shi Huangdi, was focused on ruling China with a feudal system. The family or before they trust in would get large amounts of land to rule. During the Zhou Dynasty ruling was just focus on loyalty and alliances of other countries. Because of the feudal system, most people moved to the areas where the Yellow and Yangtz River were to live in a River Valley society. With the benefits of wheat and rice farms, it was named the Middle Kingdom. The Zhou highly enforced on cultural unity and it was basically the time with the largest group of people that spoke the same language. The dynasty downfall was when the country was so vulnerable to other countries and each little regions made their own army. King at the age 13
Ideology, Motivation, Goals: Shi HuangDi began his rule by ordering all the region rulers to come into his court and take control of their regions. He wanted to be careful of choosing the rulers because he wanted people he would not go against him. With Shi Huang Di's people, the region resistance were all crushed. The emperor believes in ruling with an iron fist. He fears people would over power him so if there was any suspicion he would just kill him. During his ruling he killed men like it was never imagined. By creating a better economic system, he ordered a census to calculate taxes and jobs. The emperor also enforced taxes on the higher class so there would be money for the military. narcissistic, expansionist, always paranoid
Significant Actions & events During Term of Power Shi HuangDi was the one to begin the Great Wall of China to protect the civilization from invasions and attacks. It extends over 3000 miles and it was all created by peasant work. The government created a simpler and more unified system of measurement. There became a first written language for all the educated to speak. During his rule, the government destroyed books that were about culture book that went against his ruling. Before the emperor killed so many people it began a peasant revolk and eventually one of the peasant leader became the new dynasty of Han. Terracotta Army Burned cultural books that went against the government
Short-Term effects: Strong military because of taxes High taxes on the higher class The power of killing men and punishing them of what the person might or might not do.	Long-Term Effects Great wall for protection of the civilization A central government for better ruling (political framework) Unification of the Middle Kingdom End of Warring states -> unification of China Silk Production -> still continues on present day

Chinese Philosophies - Legalism

ESPIRT CHART ON HAN CHINA

Civilization/Nation/Group – Han Dynasty

Time Period - 207 BCE – 220 CE

E	Government would fund complex irrigation and canal systems. Also the government would regulate agriculture if times where going bad. The peasants of China would usually work in the rice region that would be regulated by a higher class family. During the Han Dynasty became minting coins from bronze and silver. People who owned land would have a limit on the amount of land and tax placed on their land . Expanded borders of China Promotion of silk and new agriculture Silk Road – supplied economy with new trading goods
S	Since bureaucrats were so educated they would usually be in the higher class, but there would be times when people from the lower class would end up in the high class. The structure of family would have the parents have total control of their children. No one can do anything to the children expect their parents, even the government. Women can only have power through sons and younger mother in laws but normal it would be men over powering women. In China, there was a population for slaves, but because the numbers were so small, slaves were no depended on the population.
P	The government would continue to attach on warrior-landlords just like the time of Shi Huangdi. Because of the importance of the Han Dynasty there was about 130,000 bureaucrats that only represent .2% of the population Bureaucrats had to take examinations. The people would have to be educated in law and the ability to read and write. The government was ruled by strict laws and harsh torture to enforce obedience and civic virtue. Central government also taxed the people and it was a law to have every male to work annually.
I	With the Han Dynasty new expanded land, it lost its isolation and began interacting with the Roman Empire Trade had become highly important by trading silks, and jewelry, wheat and rice with some visits to India. The Silk road, was an systems of roads to trade international became highly popular that the Chinese with trade silk with the Europeans. It was a difficult journey to take but if the person is successful, the results would be great. During the time copper coins were also introduced when trading with India. Gain different religion Buddhism from India by trading
R	One of the rules, Wi Ti, encouraged people to support Confucianism; shrines were created for more worship to the god. Legalism began during early Han periods where the government would rule with harsh laws and the proper state would have an able army and control what people would work as. Confucianism was more popular in the lower class where people focused more on nature. People would decorate their homes with statues and emblems and holding parades to show their devotions. This is the time dragons came in to show the forces of nature. In China, Daoism is also introduced that had the first appeal to the higher class that embraced the beliefs of nature's harmony and mystery.
I	The government would also fund organizations for astronomy and maintaining history records. One of the famous works for the basis of civil service was the Five Classics that included speeches, and political materials, and there was a Classic of Songs with more than 300 poems on love, joy , politics, and family. Poetry became highly important with the Chinese language to create a melodic sound and different pronunciations. The Chinese had created the most accurate calendar with 365.5 days that were based on the other planets Saturn and Jupiter and by observing sunspots. Also the Chinese studied mathematics of music and nature to have advancements of it much earlier than the Greeks. Water mills benefited manufacturing of goods
T	New Ox-plows were introduced around 300 B.C.E. that highly increased in products Paper was invented to sparked the government to run more efficiently. Iron tools became more advanced and people even began to use lamps in homes. Iron mining became more advanced with the pulleys and winding gear to dig up the iron.

Summary

Warring-states in China during the Shang Dynasty caused it to fall 1122 B.C.E. The second dynasty the Zhou Dynasty decreased in focus of politics and focused more on culture among the people. Zhou rulers highly supported Confucianism and used its beliefs to help control the state. Also during that dynasty a central language was created for oral speaking: Mandarin. However the control of the state was weak. Leaders would just be the different people of imperial families that rule each different region of China. Because it was ruled by family members and others, there was smaller armies that were created within the region. The different regions on China during the time just provoked more problems to China that led to the downfall of the Zhou dynasty.

Government promoted agriculture with advancement of inventions to benefit it.
Unify coin system and weights & measure system

Shi Huangdi took over the country and ruled the state for 35 years in the Qin dynasty. He began to fix up China from the warring-states and separated ruling techniques by taking each of the region rulers in one house to unify the government. His political systems contains of harsh laws to keep a stable civilization. He did also created the idea of the Great Wall to fend off outside invasions. His type of ruling was highly based of legalism with harsh laws to allow a stable civilization. Because of his ruling peasants revoked and took over him that lead to the Han Dynasty.
During the Han Dynasty was the time where trade was highly promoted to endorse silk around the world. The country came out of its isolation and trading with other countries, China gain back other goods and also gain religion ideas of Buddhism from India. Also from trading silk, China also traded heavily on wheat and rice. The social structure of the dynasty was focused on Confucianism that highly stressed on the different virtues of the different social structures.

The Chinese government was based on a bureaucratic system that has a higher power with other branches of the government( ministers, military leaders ) This system was highly popular to the Chinese that it kept being passed on onto the future generations.